I don't know what you mean about "accepted," but I for one happen to know that Moross orchestrated BEST YEARS for Friedhofer, just as I know that Friedhofer orchestrated a lot of stuff for Steiner, though I did not happen to know that Moross worked on SINCE YOU WENT AWAY.

As for presenting music by those fine composers who worked for Cinerama -- why WOULDN'T we want to see that happen?

I remember seeing SHARKFIGHTERS as a kid, before I learned to take down the name of composers. The music stood out incredibly! It was about hunting a swarm of sharks so we were not precisely in JAWS territory but the effect was EXACTLY the same as William's piece. When the music came in you knew you were in danger and it built to a fever pitch and you were not safe until it faded away.

By "generally accepted" I was just wondering if there was consensus between those that know best; nothing more really. The tidbit about Since You Went Away was another that I wondered about in that regard -- is there a consensus that Moross performed the orchestration? I don't remember reading that in the BYU/CR release booklet. You have to remember, folks, I am much younger than most that hang around these Golden Age threads, so I need to ask questions so the information is preserved.

So, it seems that most think The Big Country should have won in 1958. And that seems reasonable to me.

Wrt the Cinerama documentaries, I don't think those would sell to well. And I know there are many many historical film scores that would require remastering, re-recording, etc. before these -- there are likely many other scores that are more relevant in that regard. That's why I asked.

BTW, it looks as if a newly remastered Moross Symphony No. 1 w the LSO under Joann Falletta has been reissued on Albany Records.

Just for the record and to be absolutely clear, no criticism of your questions has been intended on my part, and I'm sorry if I gave that impression. I'm sure I speak for all of us old duffers when I say that I'm overjoyed to have a youngster like you taking such an interest in the classics. God bless you, and may your tribe increase!

No worries, PNJ. I didn't take it that way at all. I was really trying to be sensitive bc The Best Years of Our Lives and Since You Went Away are both excellent and popular historic film scores, and the info I was offering may have altered the perspectives of some.

I do think Yavar is probably the best "point-person" for the "young" to rally around. He seems to love it all, and is very methodical when he does analysis.

[edit]BTW, the original Moross Symphony No. 1 under Falletta was originally released on the Koch label as [KOCH 3-7188-2 H1].

for anyone who likes moross, you should absolutely obtain THE JAYHAWKERS, which i maintain is if not the best, close to the top of film scores put out last year. it is everything you want in terms of western and american music that one should get. has anyone heard this score and what is their opinion of it?

NPR is doing a series on American symphonies, and the first (?) interviewee is JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo and Richmond orchestras and one of our more adventurous programmers. She gives a generous nod to Moross (perhaps not entirely coincidental with the reissue of her recording). She also mentions an old friend (and longtime Rozsa Society member), Jack Gallagher of the College of Wooster (Ohio). Falletta's Naxos recording (with the LSO, no less) of Gallagher's music makes for some exciting listening.

Note that the audio interview and the text transcript contain different material.

Amongst the many aspects of this giant's career that is frustrating is that his one musical THE GOLDEN APPLE never got beyond a highlights album while a ton of non-descript musicals have gotten published and re-published. There is great potential here but no one seems to notice or care.

A freshly edited piano-conductor score was made of the score though, and is available. I saw it in Colony Records a year or so before it closed, nearly fainted, and bought it as quickly as possible. There was a great staged-reading version done not too long ago, and a version done for television in the seventies, I believe - I have a copy of that broadcast somewhere.

One of my very favorite theatre scores - I think I've posted about it at length elsewhere, but it's really great, and I've introduced it to quite a few friends who didn't know about it, and they too fell in love with it immediately. It would be wonderful if performances of it could be arranged as part of the centenary - even an "in concert" version with orchestra would be great, and would probably be a little easier and faster to get on its feet. We'll see...

Moross, of course, earned his place in the Great American Songbook with "Lazy Afternoon," but for whatever little it's worth, "Windflowers" might be my favorite number in the score, absolutely wrenching stuff.

Amongst the many aspects of this giant's career that is frustrating is that his one musical THE GOLDEN APPLE never got beyond a highlights album while a ton of non-descript musicals have gotten published and re-published. There is great potential here but no one seems to notice or care.

To mark the centenary of the birth of Jerome Moross, the next edition of the radio programme SOUNDTRACKS on secklowsounds.org is devoted to the music of this master. This week the programme gets three airings: Wednesday at 10pm BST (giving US availability times as 5pm EDT, 4pm CDT, 3pm MDT and 2pm PDT) and is repeated on Thursday at 8pm BST (US times 2 hours earlier than above) and at 12 midnight BST on Sunday (giving US availability times as 7pm EDT, 6pm CDT, 5pm MDT and 4pm PDT). Previous programmes are available on Secklow Sounds’ Replay facility and on MixCloud and Spreaker. Happy movie listening - Tony Carty

Well, today's the day - this great man of American music was born 100 years ago. The music he composed has given so much delight to my ears for a VERY long time, it's impossible to imagine life without it! He's one of the very best, and as I listen now to The BIG Country for the 1000th time, I still love every note, every sound that I hear. It's magic.

Thanks for the reminder. A great pleasure today listening to Big Country and the Palmer/Bateman collection on Silva. Moross's rhythms are so danceable. Sometimes I think ballet was his ideal medium. (The Last Judgment is an overlooked gem.) Forget about grim-faced Chuck and Greg and just enjoy the music.

Moross's rhythms are so danceable. Sometimes I think ballet was his ideal medium.

Amen. For me that's Moross in a nutshell. His rhythmic melodies can be whistled to and danced to.

Elsewhere on this forum is a discussion on "Why do people get hung up on themes?" I'm of the opinion that the human history of music could not have survived without song and dance -- whether joyful and lively, or melancholic and pensive, or dark and brutal. They are at the essence of what makes music memorable and life meaningful. All other developments in music in the last century may be noteworthy, interesting, even exciting, but they can never be a replacement for the life-enhancing artistic accomplishments of composers such as Moross.